Dietary indexes associated with childhood obesity

Purpose: The aim of the present review is to collect all the existing nutritional and diet indexes which have been associated with anthropometric measurements and obesity in studies with children and adolescents. Methods: A review of the studies that have been published during the last 30 years (1985-2015) was conducted in the scientific bases Scopus, Pubmed and Heal-Link using keywords related to childhood and adolescence, obesity and nutritional indexes and scores. Results: Based on the relevance of the articles to the reviewing subject, 22 articles were chosen which were based on 11 different indexes and scores. The majority of the indexes assess the habitual consumption from the basic food groups and nutrients based on the existing nutritional guidelines, as well as several nutritional habits such as breakfast consumption and family dinners. Few indexes include physical activity or sedentary activity in their parameters, while there are also indexes/scores assessing nutritional perceptions and beliefs or specific perinatal and parental characteristics. Conclusions: Indexes relating several nutritional and lifestyle parameters of the children with increased body weight could be particularly useful in everyday practice for health scientists targeting the prevention of childhood obesity.